Solid-state light emitters, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes, have several advantages over using more traditional arc lamps during curing processes, such as ultraviolet (UV) curing processes. Solid-state light emitters generally use less power, generate less heat, produce a higher quality cure, and have higher reliability than traditional arc lamps. While solid-state light emitters emit less heat than their arc lamp counterparts, the temperatures emitted from the solid-state light emitters can still be very high and can cause overheating of the solid-state light emitters during use and damage to the components of the solid-state light emitters over time. Overheating and damage to components of the solid-state light emitters may cause downtime for repair and loss of revenue.
Some solid-state light emitters incorporate cooling systems to remove some of the heat that is generated when the solid-state light emitter emits light. Often, these cooling systems include one or more heat sinks that help remove heat generated by the solid-state light emitters from the housing through openings or other heat exits in the housing, which results in air being expelled from the housing. These openings or heat exits in the housing are generally located near the medium on which the curing process occurs and can cause air to be expelled onto the medium, which can disturb the curing process, and which can increase manufacturing costs and decrease quality and efficiency.
External air deflectors have been used to effectively funnel heat away from solid-state light emitters and channel airflow away from a curing surface. A deflector may be secured to the housing and positioned to extend below some portion of the heat exit, the deflector guiding airflow and waste heat away from the housing. However, the constrained airflow due to an external deflector may negatively affect solid-state light emitter output as the deflector may block heat escape, raise the temperature of a heat sink, and lower LED efficiency. Furthermore, a deflector placed external to a housing for a lighting module may enlarge the housing and/or create an awkward shape that is not conducive to a particular curing system. This enlarged format may cause problems for integration, fitting, or arranging of the lighting module into existing systems.
One approach that may at least partially address the aforementioned issues includes a lighting module, comprising: an array of light-emitting elements thermally and/or electrically coupled to a heat sink and a housing having a plurality of heat exits. The heat exits may be covered over by louvered venting. For example, the louvered venting may guide airflow and waste heat away from the housing in a direction opposite to the direction in which the array of light-emitting elements emit light. In this manner, disturbance of the curing process at the medium by heat expelled from the lighting module can be substantially reduced, thereby increasing the reliability of the curing process, decreasing manufacturing costs, and increasing quality and efficiency. Furthermore, the louvered vents may be punched out of material comprising the housing and may not extend outwardly beyond the plane of the exterior of the housing. In this way, the cost and manufacture of additional components may be saved and the shape and size of the lighting module may remain substantially unaltered.
It will be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.